Originally Posted by
Rhiannon-Mae
I too was allowed out on my own from a young age.
However, I do think that the fact that I was in my local area with other children changes things.
I think one mai thing is the language barrier.
Also, in your local area it is quite likely that other parents/adults will know/at least recognise you.
Also, after school is a bit different from being left at home alone late in the evening. My older brothers looked after my younger brother and I if my parents went out in the evening.
Sorry but again, I don't think it makes a huge amount of difference at all. I shouldn't imagine that the language is a major factor in being abducted whatsoever, unless you suppose that if one can talk to ones kidnapper in his native language he is somehow less likely to abduct you. Likewise being in your own locality - James Bulger, Sarah Payne, the Soham children etc. etc. were all taken and killed in near to where they lived. Time of day, again, is this really a major factor? All of the above I've mentioned were taken in broad daylight. I don't believe there's any evidence to suggest that significantly more young children are abducted later in the evening than are earlier in the day.
I know I seem to have a bee in my bonnet over this whole thing, but I'm just really tired of people and the media assuming, speculating and even stating as fact that the parents are somehow involved in this or, if they weren't, that they deserve it anyway on the grounds that they were negligent without any evidence whatsoever to back it up.